As stated - for those of us in the US, how to go about finding a reputable intermediary for MKM? Basically somebody who can receive cards in a country MKM supports and ships it back to me in the US?
As stated - for those of us in the US, how to go about finding a reputable intermediary for MKM? Basically somebody who can receive cards in a country MKM supports and ships it back to me in the US?
Dude, if you're looking on a Magic forum for help making friends, I don't know what to tell you.
Joking aside, hit up your actual network. Talk to people that you know and trust IRL, like your friends and family. See if any of them would be willing to vouch for a human who lives in Europe. For example, I went to college with a woman who now lives in Germany. We weren't particularly close, but I bet she'd be willing to bring me mail at reunions if I asked her to do so. Maybe your cousin has a friend like that, or your mother's best friend keeps a house in Paris. I'd really suggest checking out your own network of second-degree connections.
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Yikes KnickM I know some people in Europe but that doesn't necessary mean I want to utilize them as Mtg intermediaries, hehe. Looking more for people who have done this before, you know what I mean? I don't particularly want to walk somebody through the details of how to receive and send large monetary amounts of cards... nor answer questions on why the large monetary amounts of insurances are required.
And I'd rather not trust Aunt Betty to do this type of stuff. I'm sure it's not the first time somebody this side of the pond has had such a need so I'm looking for some ideas!
Yikes KnickM I know some people in Europe but that doesn't necessary mean I want to utilize them as Mtg intermediaries, hehe. Looking more for people who have done this before, you know what I mean? I don't particularly want to walk somebody through the details of how to receive and send large monetary amounts of cards... nor answer questions on why the large monetary amounts of insurances are required.
And I'd rather not trust Aunt Betty to do this type of stuff. I'm sure it's not the first time somebody this side of the pond has had such a need so I'm looking for some ideas!
Fair points all, although I feel that anyone who'd offer this service is probably just going to buy on MKM and sell to Americans on eBay.
I hope that you find someone less cynical than I am!
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I already gave a private answer to Dresden, but decided to repost few points here and answer KnickM's eBay point.
First I do this type of thing rarely for people who collect rarities. The main problem turns out to be who you can trust. There are few ways to find somebody you feel you can trust as KnickM mentioned, but unless you have good friends in Europe, it's basically a leap of faith. But there are ways to make it less rough. One way is for the European buyer use his/her own funds to do the purchases and 'sell' them here on MtGS. This might be feasible if the cards/products are priced in such a way that there's relatively low risk for the buyer to get stuck with them. I know personally lot of cards that are very underpriced on MCM and if I just had more free time I would be selling and trading them here or on some other trading site. I actually have been stockpiling some cards for just that purpose for a year now.
The second problem is shipping costs and customs fees. Those can add up and with larger values the insurance is needed also, making customs a sure thing. Also MCM has costs that do not show up at first glance. Buyer has to pay for shipping and if the items total 25 € or more, pay for tracking and insurance. These do add up fast if one buyes from multiple sellers.
As for selling on eBay, the 19% fees are pretty much killers on top of shipping from EU to US. Tracking costs 9 € on top of the postage (5,5-9 €) and you need large margins to cover the shipping costs. It is possible to do, but it's much harder to keep moving playsets of relatively high value cards compared to singles. Also starting out on eBay is bit more of an hassle. On top of that we have been spoiled by MCM 5% fees, which make operating on MCM much more profitable. Still another thing is that PayPal is making it harder to gat money out of the system without paying way too much for it. Moving the PayPal-money into MCM takes 0,35 € + 5% of the amount. That is why bank transfers are much nicer, but less supported by eBay. So in short Ebaying eats in total 24 % of the selling price.
As stated above, I've been considering doing something along these lines, if I didn't have a full time job and family to make certain I don't have a problem how I spend my free time. I also offered to take a look of Dresdens list of purchases and see how this type of purchase could be done.
So, in light of this topic, I thought I'd post one of my issues. I've got a friend in Europe, and placed an order through him. He got this SoFaI that was advertised as "Near Mint". Now I'm going back and forth with him and he's going back and forth with the seller trying to make things right.
Personally, I think a crease in a judge foil warrants a return for a refund, but my friend isn't sure the damage is quite so bad, and since I can't see the card I can't be sure - it looked really bad in the picture last night, but it may just be that one of the crease lines perfectly matches up to one of the lines in the old-school artifact frame. Anyway, I'm rambling now (although I'd certainly welcome opinions in my other thread about how bad the damage is and whether a return for full refund or a percentage refund is in order), but this is the sort of thing that makes trying to third-party MKM a royal pain.
So, in light of this topic, I thought I'd post one of my issues. I've got a friend in Europe, and placed an order through him. He got this SoFaI that was advertised as "Near Mint". Now I'm going back and forth with him and he's going back and forth with the seller trying to make things right.
Personally, I think a crease in a judge foil warrants a return for a refund, but my friend isn't sure the damage is quite so bad, and since I can't see the card I can't be sure - it looked really bad in the picture last night, but it may just be that one of the crease lines perfectly matches up to one of the lines in the old-school artifact frame. Anyway, I'm rambling now (although I'd certainly welcome opinions in my other thread about how bad the damage is and whether a return for full refund or a percentage refund is in order), but this is the sort of thing that makes trying to third-party MKM a royal pain.
Personally I would want to see a picture of the back as well to make a full decision on the damage. Though being able to see that from the front doesn't bode too well for me. If I was looking specifically for NM copies, I would definitely return that for a refund. Sellers who try to pawn off non-NM cards as NM need to be taught that such is not acceptable and need to learn how to properly grade their cards that they sell. Just my opinion though. As for your friend not thinking it is so bad, as far as I would be concerned, a crease is a crease and at the end of the day your friend should have no problem returning it for a refund if that's the decision you decide upon.
Returning cards on MCM is usually pretty easy, unless you had the bad luck of buying from a seller who doesn't really care about their reputation as a seller. That is one reason, I don't always buy the cheapest copy, but generally bad sellers are in minority among active sellers. On the other hand there are thousands of sellers who use the site occasionally and don't really care too much about their reputation (No communication in case of problems, really slow mailing, bad grading and rude replies.)
But generally if I feel that the card is in way too bad shape, I've been always able to ship the card back for full refund and postages. Naturally it's something I would not do with cheaper cards, but for anything over 10 euros is fair game to ship back.
I've had to do this three or four times over 1033 buys, so it's not such a frequent issue, but can happen.
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Dude, if you're looking on a Magic forum for help making friends, I don't know what to tell you.
Joking aside, hit up your actual network. Talk to people that you know and trust IRL, like your friends and family. See if any of them would be willing to vouch for a human who lives in Europe. For example, I went to college with a woman who now lives in Germany. We weren't particularly close, but I bet she'd be willing to bring me mail at reunions if I asked her to do so. Maybe your cousin has a friend like that, or your mother's best friend keeps a house in Paris. I'd really suggest checking out your own network of second-degree connections.
And I'd rather not trust Aunt Betty to do this type of stuff. I'm sure it's not the first time somebody this side of the pond has had such a need so I'm looking for some ideas!
Fair points all, although I feel that anyone who'd offer this service is probably just going to buy on MKM and sell to Americans on eBay.
I hope that you find someone less cynical than I am!
First I do this type of thing rarely for people who collect rarities. The main problem turns out to be who you can trust. There are few ways to find somebody you feel you can trust as KnickM mentioned, but unless you have good friends in Europe, it's basically a leap of faith. But there are ways to make it less rough. One way is for the European buyer use his/her own funds to do the purchases and 'sell' them here on MtGS. This might be feasible if the cards/products are priced in such a way that there's relatively low risk for the buyer to get stuck with them. I know personally lot of cards that are very underpriced on MCM and if I just had more free time I would be selling and trading them here or on some other trading site. I actually have been stockpiling some cards for just that purpose for a year now.
The second problem is shipping costs and customs fees. Those can add up and with larger values the insurance is needed also, making customs a sure thing. Also MCM has costs that do not show up at first glance. Buyer has to pay for shipping and if the items total 25 € or more, pay for tracking and insurance. These do add up fast if one buyes from multiple sellers.
As for selling on eBay, the 19% fees are pretty much killers on top of shipping from EU to US. Tracking costs 9 € on top of the postage (5,5-9 €) and you need large margins to cover the shipping costs. It is possible to do, but it's much harder to keep moving playsets of relatively high value cards compared to singles. Also starting out on eBay is bit more of an hassle. On top of that we have been spoiled by MCM 5% fees, which make operating on MCM much more profitable. Still another thing is that PayPal is making it harder to gat money out of the system without paying way too much for it. Moving the PayPal-money into MCM takes 0,35 € + 5% of the amount. That is why bank transfers are much nicer, but less supported by eBay. So in short Ebaying eats in total 24 % of the selling price.
As stated above, I've been considering doing something along these lines, if I didn't have a full time job and family to make certain I don't have a problem how I spend my free time. I also offered to take a look of Dresdens list of purchases and see how this type of purchase could be done.
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Personally, I think a crease in a judge foil warrants a return for a refund, but my friend isn't sure the damage is quite so bad, and since I can't see the card I can't be sure - it looked really bad in the picture last night, but it may just be that one of the crease lines perfectly matches up to one of the lines in the old-school artifact frame. Anyway, I'm rambling now (although I'd certainly welcome opinions in my other thread about how bad the damage is and whether a return for full refund or a percentage refund is in order), but this is the sort of thing that makes trying to third-party MKM a royal pain.
Personally I would want to see a picture of the back as well to make a full decision on the damage. Though being able to see that from the front doesn't bode too well for me. If I was looking specifically for NM copies, I would definitely return that for a refund. Sellers who try to pawn off non-NM cards as NM need to be taught that such is not acceptable and need to learn how to properly grade their cards that they sell. Just my opinion though. As for your friend not thinking it is so bad, as far as I would be concerned, a crease is a crease and at the end of the day your friend should have no problem returning it for a refund if that's the decision you decide upon.
But generally if I feel that the card is in way too bad shape, I've been always able to ship the card back for full refund and postages. Naturally it's something I would not do with cheaper cards, but for anything over 10 euros is fair game to ship back.
I've had to do this three or four times over 1033 buys, so it's not such a frequent issue, but can happen.
Set to default